• DarkGamer@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It’s true!

    Although it may seem safe to assume that one horsepower is the output a horse is capable of creating at any one time, that is incorrect. In fact, the maximum output of a horse can be up to 15 horsepower,[2] and the maximum output of a human is a bit more than a single horsepower. For extreme athletes, this output can be even higher with Tour de France riders outputting around 1.2 horsepower for around 15 seconds, and just under 0.9 horsepower for a minute.[3]
    https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Horsepower

    I must now once again question the nature of reality.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      the maximum output of a horse can be up to 15 horsepower,

      That’s the problem. The unit was not developed on the maximum power a horse could put out. It was intended to be what a typical horse could continuously sustain throughout the work day.

      • jarfil@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Also why switching horses was a thing: a fully rested horse could run at a higher hp, then change horses and the new one could keep outputting thevhigher up whilecthe previous one rested.

        Like switching rechargeable batteries, only the battery was the horse.

    • Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Wasn’t one unit of horsepower meant to represent sustained power, not peak power of a horse?

      • gramathy@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Average, not necessarily sustained. Horse gotta rest at some point regardless of how much power it’s putting out

        Iirc it’s an average over 1 day (24hrs) without regard to rest. So even sustained a horse is putting out more than 1hp at any given point in time

      • atocci@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        It’s supposed to be the amount of work a strong horse can perform over one day on average.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      It’s just playing with fractions and linear extrapolation. Horsepower has a time denominator. If you measure how fast I can run (not fast) in .1 second intervals, then take the highest number and extrapolate that to miles per hour it will seem impressive.

    • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Just another silly quirk of the imperial system.

      Metric uses kilowatts.

    • Mac@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Pro sprinters (cyclists) can temporarily put out over 2hp according to their data logs.